The present invention relates to furnishings, and in particular, to accessories for furniture systems that are particularly adapted to support group activities in open plans, and the like.
Open office plans are well-known in the art, and generally comprise large, open floor spaces in a building that are furnished in a manner that is readily reconfigurable to accommodate the ever changing needs of a specific user, as well as the divergent requirements of different tenants. One arrangement typically used for furnishing open plans includes movable partition panels that are detachably interconnected to partition off the open space into individual workstations or offices. Some such partition panels are configured to receive hang-on furniture units, such as worksurfaces, overhead cabinets, shelves, etc., and are generally known in the office furniture industry as "systems furniture." Another arrangement for dividing or partitioning open plans includes modular furniture arrangements in which a plurality of differently shaped, freestanding furniture units are interconnected in side-by-side relationship, with upstanding privacy screens attached to at least some of the furniture units to create individual, distinct workstations or offices.
However, these types of conventional workstation arrangements are not particularly adapted to support workers engaged in group work, such as self-managing teams, or others involved in team problem solving techniques, wherein a relatively large number of workers from different disciplines, such as engineering, design, manufacturing, sales, marketing, purchasing, finance, etc., meet together as a group to define and review issues, set general policy, and then breakout into a number of smaller subgroups or individuals to resolve those specific problems relating to their particular discipline. Team projects typically have a rather specific objective and are of a limited duration, such that the individual workers are temporarily assigned to the group for the life of the project, and are then reassigned to a new group when the project is completed. Group work is steadily gaining importance as a way of improving productivity and time-to-market, thereby emphasizing the need to support such activities more efficiently and effectively.
Conventional conference rooms, meeting halls, and the like are no longer considered an efficient use of space in open plans environments. Such conventional rooms typically require financial and time investments to create and are relatively permanent. Consequently, the permanent or semi-permanent nature of such conference rooms or meeting halls do not conform to the flexibility and reconfigurability associated with the latest office systems used to furnish open office spaces. The reconfiguration of such spaces is quite messy, and very disruptive in conducting day-to-day business.
In order to gain increased efficiency in the use of expensive office real estate, highly paid knowledge workers are now being supported with modular furniture systems in open office settings, instead of conventional private offices. These work settings are equipped with various state-of-the-art utilities and facilities. These modular systems are readily reconfigurable to effectively meet the ever-changing needs of the user and provides distribution and control of utilities throughout the open office plan.
One such system providing the required utility distribution to an open office space is a support column and beam system generally configured as an overhead framework having a plurality of horizontal beam segments interconnected in an end-to-end fashion to form a rigid structure configured to be positioned above the floor surface. The interconnected beam segments are supported by a plurality of support columns or posts, each having an upper portion connected with the overhead framework and a lower portion abutting the floor surface. The support columns and beams have an interior support structure forming raceways for the routing and distribution of utilities throughout the column and beam system.
However, the aforementioned column and beam systems are inadequate in and of themselves to satisfy all of the needs of the team members when working in the open office area. These column and beam systems generally also incorporate various features including horizontal tracks or troughs associated with the overhead beams for the hanging or mounting of accessories and slots in the posts to receive hang-on accessories. There is a need for accessory items adapted to interface with and cooperate with the column and beam systems to further improve the efficiency of the team members and personalize the workspace as they work in the open areas of the office system.